kirjan

Kirjan is the genitive singular form of the Finnish noun kirja, meaning "book." In Finnish grammar, the genitive marks possession or association and is used to link the book to another noun in compound phrases. The form kirjan is created by adding the genitive suffix -n to the base kirja.

In practice, kirjan appears in phrases that express ownership or relation to a book. Examples include kirjan kansi (the book’s cover), kirjan nimi (the book’s title), kirjan sivut (the book’s pages), and kirjan kirjoittaja (the author of the book). The genitive construction is common in Finnish, and the second noun in the phrase remains in its base form, while kirjan explains what belongs to the book.

Beyond its grammatical use, kirjan has no separate meaning in standard Finnish when standing alone; it functions as a grammatical form of kirja. The word kirja itself denotes a physical book or book-like work, and can also be used more broadly in figurative expressions such as examining the contents of a book or discussing a written work.

Related topics include the base noun kirja and the broader system of Finnish possessive and genitive constructions. Understanding kirjan helps in forming clear, natural noun phrases that attribute qualities or ownership to books within sentences.